Maccani Overcomes Age-Old Adversity

AMES, Iowa?For most athletes, rupturing one Achilles tendon means it is time to seriously reconsider their sporting career. Generally, if it happens twice, their career is over. But rupturing the tendon that connects the calf to the heel bone a third time is uncharted waters. Throw in the time-proven issue of age in gymnastics and what Ceilia Maccani is doing for Iowa State is truly remarkable.

Not only has the 22-year-old Maccani competed in every Cyclone meet this season, the Racine, Wis. native, is in action after having surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon three times.

And she's getting better.

On Feb. 20 against Minnesota, she scored an ISU-high 9.925 on bars, becoming only the ninth Cyclone in program history to tally at least that score on the apparatus. Maccani has either broken or tied her career mark on all three of her events (vault, bars and beam) this season and took home a share of the Feb. 3 Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week award. Add in the fact that she is within touching distance of the team highs on both vault and beam this season, and it is easy to see Maccani is one of the key Cyclone gymnasts.

“She's doing incredible gymnastics,” Iowa State head coach Jay Ronayne said. “On bars, she's been our number one, which means there is nobody we trust more than her, and she does a great routine every time. On beam and vault, she's the first up for us because she's really solid.”

Injuries were her Achilles heel:

Maccani's injury list is long, but it most notably includes the three ruptured Achilles tendons. She tore her first one the summer before her senior season of high school. After arriving at ISU, she tore the other one. When she came back from her second tear, Maccani re-ruptured the same tendon again about a month later.

Maccani admits overcoming such disheartening setbacks was trying.

“When I started trying to come back after the third tear and started getting in the gym a little bit more, it was really hard to get back,” she said. “I was wondering if it was worth it because I had a really hard time.

However, Maccani said her drive to compete collegiately and help her teammates pushed her through the difficult times.

“I wanted to accomplish something in college, I didn't want to just give up,” Maccani said. “Even though three torn Achilles tendons might have been a good enough reason to give up, I wanted to do something, be with the team and to just continue to try to make it work.”

Ronayne feels Maccani's triumphs over injury affirm she is a special person.

“An Achilles tear, at times, is career ending because the body just doesn't want to do what it used to do, and to have it happen three different times, that's an unbelievable thing to try to overcome,” said Ronayne.

Beating father time:

To understand how gymnasts generally reach their peak at a younger age, one does not have to look any farther than the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Olympic rules state that gymnasts must be at least 16 years old and the competition was marred in controversy with whispers that the gold-medal-winning Chinese team had gymnasts that were too young. The silver-medal-winning United States squad wasn't exactly full of veterans as the team carried an average age of 17.7.

“I've seen college-age athletes decline in their motivation and the way that they can train because of limitations that have been brought about by years and years of wear on joints, especially in the lower body,” said Ronayne. “And when you do this for fifteen, seventeen years your body just doesn't want to do it anymore. But Ceilia is finding a way to keep on doing it and keep on getting better. So, it is pretty rare what she is doing.”

It might be hard to take positives out of such a long injury list, but with her setbacks as a freshman Maccani gained a medical redshirt year. So, Maccani will return next year for the Cyclones, and with the way she has been progressing, she could be even better in her final campaign.